Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, says he will not attend Thursday’s opening of the new American consulate in the capital city of Nuuk.
According to a Google translation of a report from the Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq, other members of the government may also refuse to participate.
“We haven’t made a decision in principle, but I won’t participate,” the prime minister told Sermitsiaq.
The consulate has extended a large invitation list, but the news outlet reports that “a significant portion of those invited have chosen to decline.”
The political situation between the U.S. and Greenland has been tense, after President Donald Trump pursued a campaign to take control of the autonomous territory which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Member of parliament Naaja H. Nathanielsen announced she too would not attend.
“I have explained it by saying that the situation between our countries is difficult right now,” Nathanielsen wrote on social media.
On Monday, President Trump’s Special Envoy to Greenland, Republican Governor Jeff Landry, spoke with several Greenlandic children, offering them chocolate chip cookies if they visited the governor’s mansion.
“If you come to Louisiana,” Governor Landry said, “and you come to the governor’s mansion — all the chocolate chip cookies you can eat.”
His remarks landed poorly.
Prime Minister Nielsen on Monday said Greenland would not become part of the U.S., “no matter how many ‘chocolate cookies’ we get,” according to the Times-Picayune.
In January, Trump vowed to do “something” with Greenland, which he has suggested the U.S. could purchase or take over militarily. The vast majority of Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the U.S.
“I would like to make a deal,” Trump said. “You know, the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way we’re gonna do it the hard way.”
“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you, and, you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump continued. “I’m a big fan, but, you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land, uh, sure, we had lots of boats go there also.”
“We’re not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re gonna do if we don’t,” Trump insisted. “So we’re gonna be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way.”